


Where Nothing Else Lives

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Aunt-Nephew Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Aunt Amilyn Holdo, Minor Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Young Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-12 03:23:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20557415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Even Vice Admirals have their sorrows.





	Where Nothing Else Lives

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Beads
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.
> 
> Author’s Notes: This idea was part of a larger piece, but I thought the potential (informal) aunt-nephew relationship between Holdo and Ben/Kylo was too interesting to pass up.

It wasn’t always that Amilyn Holdo got to visit her nephew, but when she did, it was a pleasure. Even as they sat together, a tin of beads in front of them, Amilyn knew that teaching her young nephew crafts would be fun.  
  
A furrow came between Ben’s eyes in that moment, something that was, Amilyn noted, very Leia-like. “They’re really small,” he said.  
  
“Not that small,” Amilyn said. “Once you get them on a string, you don’t even have to think about it. Just one after the other.”  
  
“Right.” A beat. “They are pretty, though.”  
  
Amilyn smiled. “They are. I do like pretty things; why else do I wear dresses? That and the Republic uniforms are...tacky.” She sighed. “I’m always relieved to be out of them.”  
  
“Why can’t you wear whatever you want?”  
  
Apparently, younglings could be wiser than adults at times. “Well, some people think uniforms are more practical. It doesn’t help that anything feminine is seen as not worth taking seriously, and that anything outside a very limiting norm is seen as worthy of being excluded — that means shut out, isolated.”  
  
“That’s not fair!”   
  
“Yes, but it doesn’t mean we can’t change it,” Amilyn said. “You stand tall. You lead by example. You simply be who you are — and you’ll get at least someone, anyone, to follow you.”  
  
“Could I change the galaxy one day?”  
  
Amilyn smiled again. “You can be whatever you set your mind to, Ben. Now...first you have to make a knot. That way the beads don’t fall off the string. A bit counterproductive when you’re trying to make any piece of jewelry...”  
  
***  
  
It was better that Holdo didn’t show this to anyone. Things like one of those pieces of jewelry Ben Solo had made for her as a child had to be kept secret — hardly anyone could be able to wrap their mind around the idea that this sweet little boy became Kylo Ren.  
  
Kylo Ren. He wasn’t supposed to be that way, he didn’t have to be that way. This Holdo simply knew. When Leia had called her over the comm to say that Ben had fallen to the Dark Side, there had been something in Holdo that knew, just knew, there was something wrong with it.   
  
Even touching the piece of jewelry lightly brought back memories. _“Well, I like your hair. It’s wizard!” _Ben had said that when he’d first met Holdo, her hair dyed bright blue this time around. Making bits of jewelry together, and later, Ben taking up calligraphy and painting. Talking about Poe Dameron — and Holdo had never met Poe before, but the way Ben’s face lit up like a sun...he must have meant something to him. Did any of them mean anything to Kylo Ren, in a place where nothing else likely lived?  
  
Holdo looked down at the necklace Ben had made for her as a child. It was worthy of being a keepsake, a reminder of what had been — something that lived in Amilyn Holdo’s heart, no matter what happened.


End file.
